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Inpatient wards at two of Somerset's community hospitals have been shut to free up beds for coronavirus patients.

The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is "consolidating" its community hospitals beds onto fewer sites to ensure they can be properly and safely staffed.

The CCG is also working with Somerset County Council and care providers to secure more care beds and bring old care homes back into use.

However, there are currently no plans to reopen the Yeovil inpatient ward run by St Margaret's Hospice, which closed down in late-2019.

Community hospital closures

The CCG confirmed on Wednesday (April 1) that beds at Shepton Mallet and Wellington community hospitals would be freed up by closing inpatient wards, with the beds being transported to other sites in the county.

A spokeswoman said: "We are temporarily consolidating the beds in our community hospitals onto fewer hospital sites, which will enable us to open more beds with a smaller number of colleagues overall.

"This is important at a time when we anticipate increased illness among colleagues and difficulty in attracting temporary staff.

"We have already temporarily closed the eight inpatient beds at Shepton Mallet Community Hospital. We will also be temporarily closing the ten inpatient beds at Wellington Community Hospital.

Shepton Mallet hospital

"We will be temporarily increasing the beds at five other community hospitals, including Burnham-on-Sea, Minehead, West Mendip, Williton and Wincanton.

"The NHS nationally has struck a deal with the independent sector to increase the number of beds, and that includes the treatment centre in Shepton Mallet."

Chard community hospital's inpatient ward has been subject to a temporary closure since October 2017 due to staffing levels.

Shepton Mallet closed around the same time before reopening in July 2018.

The CCG has stressed that the closures at Shepton Mallet and Wellington are strictly in response to the coronavirus, and will be reversed as soon as the crisis has abated.

A spokeswoman said: "These changes are solely in response to the Covid-19 outbreak and are temporary.

"They are being made so that we can care for as many people as possible who may need our support during the Covid-19 outbreak."

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Somerset County Council has been working closely with the CCG and the wider care sector to ensure enough beds are available for people who cannot be cared for or treated in the comfort of their own home.

To that end, the council has used some of the £15M it recently received from central government to buy up extra rooms in care homes across the county.

It has also reopened the Acacia care home on Hendford Hill in Yeovil - which was closed down in 2018 after being rated 'inadequate' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The council said this would create 40 additional beds, with a further 60 being provided across the county - including six from a new facility which recently opened in Minehead.

Other former care homes could be reopened in due course, with up to 70 further beds becoming available as a result.

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It's more important than ever to stay in touch with what's happening around you on a daily basis. Here are some options:

The newly-launched Somerset Live app delivers the latest news, sport and what’s on information to your mobile phone – all for free. Click on the App Store here to download the app for iOS devices, and on the Google Play store here to download the app on Android.

The council is also appealing for former care workers to come forward - just as the NHS has recently seen doctors come out of retirement to do their part.

A spokesman said: "Local authority staff are being retrained to work in care, but more are needed across the care sector.

"We are therefore appealing for former care workers to come forward and help further strengthen the system.

"We are looking for people who have ideally worked in care settings before and have retired or moved into different fields.

"These will be paid positions working for care providers, initially Somerset Care, the county’s largest care provider. Refresher training and support will be provided."

The council is especially looking for:

Care home workers who can assists with personal care

Nurses who can oversee care plans

Domestic support (e.g. cleaning and preparing meals)

Gardeners and those working in property maintenance

Somerset Care CEO Gary Ridewood said: "We are currently working very closely with the council and local hospitals as part of a wider project aimed at ensuring more beds are available for those patients with the coronavirus.

"These are challenging times for all front-line care staff, and we’re keen to support our colleagues in the NHS as much as possible."

Anyone who is able and willing to help should call 0300 123 2224.

Wellington Community Hospital (Image: Google)

The hospice situation

Weston Hospicecare in Weston-super-Mare revealed on Monday (March 30) that it could take in patients who did not have Covid-19 in a bid to relieve pressure on the NHS.

The Somerset CCG said it was working with care providers to "increase the number of medically-well people who can be discharged home or to a residential care home".

However, as things stand there are no plans to re-open the Yeovil inpatient ward run by St Margaret's Hospice, which closed its doors in October 2019.

A CCG spokeswoman said "We have had conversations with St Margaret’s Hospice about the facilities at their Yeovil site.

"Due to the small number of beds that would be available on this site, we are not pursuing this option at this time, due to the increasing pressures around staffing availability."

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To further take the pressure off the health service, hospitals across Somerset are cancelling routine surgery for cases where a delay will "not cause an impact on the survival or long-term health of the patient concerned".

This includes planned hip or knee surgery, and will ensure beds and staff remain available for Covid-19 patients.

A spokeswoman said: "While we acknowledge the impact this will have on individuals, our priority is maintaining capacity for life saving surgery, and those requiring intensive care support for Covid-19 related conditions.